I have dreamed of traveling to India for a few years and my dream finally came true.  I love to travel and want to see so many places in this world, but I have recently found a true passion for visiting developing countries.  The people are so beautiful and the history is so rich.  I also wanted to go to India with one of my best friends who is originally from India and is also a fellow photographer.  My friend organized the trip which started and ended in Delhi and included Agra, Jaipur, Jodhpur, and Jaisalmer.  As a bonus, there were 3 couples in our small group, all of us friends! What a wonderful time we had!!  I decided to write this blog in a little different way than my previous ones.  Instead of retelling the journey in chronological order, I am going to tell the story of India in themes.  Much of what I experienced surprised me and enthralled me.  This is what I want to share most.

First were the beautiful faces of the people we met along the way.  Most were very friendly and enjoyed having their pictures taken.

The Faces of India:

The architecture was another fascination for me.  One of the iconic sites I dreamed of seeing was the Taj Mahal. Nothing could have prepared me for this amazing structure.  I will share more of the various architectural wonders we visited on our trip, but the Taj Mahal deserves a separate section.  I learned that one of the great Mughal kings, Shah Jahan commissioned the Taj Mahal in memory of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal in 1632.  The entire structure is a mausoleum!!  It rained during our first two days of our trip which started in Delhi.  It rained on our bus ride from Delhi to Agra and all I kept thinking was that I was going to miss capturing the Taj Mahal in perfect conditions… whatever that is!!  The rain slowly cleared and by the time we arrived at the Taj, it was a beautiful day.  The leftover clouds in the sky made for the perfect photos.  The sunset was one of the most spectacular our local guide had ever seen.  What luck!!!  When we returned the next morning, it was raining again, but this allowed us to capture a more moody side of the Taj Mahal.

Taj Mahal:

We saw many other beautiful beautiful forts, mosques, and palaces on our trip.  In Delhi, we visited the Jama Masjid mosque.  It rained the day we went which made for some interesting photos.  Jama Masjid is the largest mosque in India.  It was designed by Shah Jahan and built by a workforce of 5000 people between 1644 and 1656. The three bulbous marble domes crowning the main prayer hall faces Mecca and the open courtyard in front holds 25,000 worshippers.  We climbed the narrow, winding stairs to the top of one of the minarets for a view of Old Delhi.

 

Architectural Highlights- Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Jodhpur, and Jaisalmer:

We also visited India Gate and Qutb Minar while in Delhi.  We visited these at the end of our trip- no rain!  India Gate was designed in 1921 to commemorate 90,000 Indian soldiers killed fighting for the British in World War I.  It also bears the names of over 3000 British and Indian soldiers who died on the Northwest frontier and in the Afghan War of 1919.  A memorial beneath the arch honors those who lost their lives in the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971.

The Qutb Minar Complex are the first monuments of Muslim India.  One of Delhi’s most famous landmarks, the red sandstone, 72 m tower of the Qutb Minar tapers upwards among the ruins of several other buildings.  The tower is covered with intricate carvings and inscribed verses of the Koran.  Work started on the Qutb Minar in 1202 and was Qutb-ud-Din Aibak’s victory tower, celebrating the advent of the Muslim dominance of Delhi and much of the rest of India which endured until 1857.

From Delhi, we traveled by bus to Agra where we visited the Taj Mahal (I shared this earlier- just couldn’t wait!) and Agra Fort.  Agra Fort lies to the northwest of the Taj Mahal and was founded by Akbar on the remains of the earlier Rajput fortifications.  This major citadel developed as the seat and stronghold of the Mughal empire for several generations.  Akbar laid the foundations between 1565 and 1573, with the rest of the walls, gates, buildings and ramparts being completed by his son, Shah Jahan and grandson, Aurangzeb.  Interestingly, Aurangzeb siezed power from his father and had him incarcerated at Agra Fort where Shah Jahan was able to gaze out at the Taj Mahal where his wife was buried.

On the way from Agra to Jaipur, we visited Fatehpur Sikri, ghost city and former imperial capital of the great Mughal emperor, Akbar.   The city was built here between 1569 and 1585, fusing Hindu and Muslim architectural elements, speaking to the religious and cultural tolerance of Akbar’s reign.  The reasons for the city’s abandonment are not known.

In Jaipur, we made a very quick photo stop to capture the Hawa Mahal.  This palace was built in 1799 to enable the women of the court to watch street processions while remaining in strict purdah. It is actually a facade, one room deep in most parts and with over 590 finely screened windows and balconies.

Amber Fort in Jaipur was another wonderful experience.  Perched on top of a rocky hill, Amber Fort was the capital of the leading Rajput clan, Kachchwaha from 1037 to 1728 when Jai Singh established his new city at Jaipur.  To reach the entrance of the fort, we rode painted elephants for an unforgettable experience.  The architectural style of Amber Fort is primarily Rajput, although some Mughal elements are mixed in, such as the Mirrored Palace with its mirrored mosaics.  Also of interest is are marble rooms decorated with blue, yellow, and red vases that were cooled by water channeled through small conduits carved into the walls, an early form of air conditioning.

Back to city center, Jaipur, we stopped at City Palace.  The palace was originally built by Jai Singh between 1729 and 1732.  The royal family still occupies part of the palace.  One of my favorite parts of the palace was the “Peacock Courtyard”, adorned with 4 ornately decorated doors representing the 4 seasons.

Next stop, Jodhpur.  We made a short visit to Umaid Bhawan Palace, commissioned by Maharaja Umaid Singh in 1929 as a famine relief project. More than 3000 laborers spent 16 years building this palace.

We then went on to visit  Mehrangarh Fort, also in Jodhpur.  The fort is situated 400 ft above the city and is enclosed by imposing thick walls. There are seven gates, which include Jai Pol (meaning victory), built by Maharaja Man Singh to commemorate his victories over Jaipur and Bikaner armies. The imprints of cannonball hits by attacking armies of Jaipur can still be seen on the second gate.  Loha Pol, which is the final gate into the main part of the fort complex is marked by handprints of Maharaja Man Singh’s widows, who in 1843 committed suicide by fire (sati) on his funeral pyre.  From the fort, there are some wonderful views of the “Blue City” below.  The blue originally denoted a high-caste Brahmin residence.  Indigo whitewash was thought to protect the buildings from insects and to keep them cool in summer.

From Jodhpur, we continued west to Jaisalmer.  Here we visited the Jaisalmer Fort built in 1156.  Over 2000 people currently live in the fort, which made this a very different experience from all the other forts we visited.  It was a continuous maze of narrow, winding streets filled with merchants everywhere.  Also notable were a number of Hindu and Jain Temples throughout the fort.  I took a separate tour of the Jain Temple.  One of the symbols we saw throughout our trip was the swastika.  It was a bit unnerving to see this symbol but I learned it is an ancient symbol that has been found worldwide, but it is especially common in India. Its name comes the Sanskrit word svasti (sv = well;asti = is), meaning good fortune, luck and well-being.   Jaisalmer is also known for its numerous havelis, or private mansions.

Holi Festival- Jaipur

We were in Jaipur in time for the annual Holi Festival.  Holi is a spring festival, also known as the festival of colors or the festival of love. It is an ancient Hindu religious festival that is now celebrated in many parts of the world.  In preparation for the Holi celebration, we purchased plain, white Kurti pajamas and colored powder.  We “played” Holi at the City Palace with a band of musicians.   We had a blast and undoubtedly made some memories for those around us who were all taking photos of us dancing and rubbing colored powder on each other.  We also got to play Holi with a few people in the streets.  Later in our trip, we saw signs of Holi celebrations everywhere.  What a fun and joyous time!

More windows,doors and arches:

One of my favorite subjects to shoot were windows,doors and arches.  I shared some already in the architectural highlights, but wanted to share a few more of my favorites shots.

 Shopping: 

We had so much fun shopping and bargaining for local treasures.   One to three hundred rubees was enough to buy most of the jewelry, trinkets, spices, and food  we saw.  For 1000-3000 rubees, clothing and blankets could be purchased.  The people were very creative in finding ways to make money. The markets were a bustling cacophony of sights and sounds… a sensory overload!

Cows and more….

We never stopped being surprised by the cows…. everywhere.   There was a peaceful co-existence between pedestrians, motorcycles, auto rickshaws, cars, buses, cows, bulls, goats, dogs, camels, monkeys, peacocks, and carts…. amazing that we saw no accidents. Honking horns were everywhere; more to help keep traffic moving, and keeping pedestrians on guard.

 Thar Desert:

One of the best experiences of our trip was taking a camel cart ride out into the Thar Desert at sunset.  It took about 1 hour by bus from Jaisalmer to reach a small village in the Thar Desert.  The village people then took us further into the desert on camel carts.  Our group of six took 2 camel carts and 1 camel on a 45 minute trip out to a beautiful dune area, passing village women gathering water.  After photographing silhouettes at sunset, we rode the camel carts back to the village where we then enjoyed a delicious dinner prepared by the village women.